Building a new PC, and havent really kept up on the latest and greatest in the CPU market.

What CPU's should I be considering? I want something really good, but not neccesarily the absolute best and most expensive. Intel has this "dual core" technology. Is this something I should consider?

 

i read somewhere suppostly the AMD Athlon 64 X2 would smoke the Intel Pentium D

 

A.M.D, faster and cheaper. On a side note, AMD, for the very first time, outsold Intel .

 

AMD for gaming. Intel for everything else. Their Dual cores are abosolutely awesome!

 

Take it to the track!

 

Just curious why you would suggest AMD for gaming but not anythign else?

 

im running pentium D 2.8 eh its ok

 

From an application standpoint, I've seen Intel outperform AMD time after time in multitasking situations. On the other hand, AMD hands Intel their asses in terms of gaming performance.

 

I dunno... I like AMD but most of the boards that are coupled with AMD don't have what I want.

 

Exactly... most high end boards are mated to Intel chips... I too would take an AMD over intel, just the features I want are not there. BTW, I have an Intel on an Asus board.

 

what features do you consider "must have" for your boards?

 

I'd go Cyrix 6x86MX.

 

 

the x86 architecture sucks... but thats life.

 

Actually my statement might be somewhat dated since I'm off the market for the past yeare and a half. But when I was building PCs, the FSB, built in Firewire SATA/IDE RAID crap like that. I'm guessing things have changed somewhat.
I gave up on trying to stay with the industry. Graphics cards and mainboards just move too fast. Career + grad school + bills + dating = 32 hours a day.

 

I like Asus. I had a bad experience with one in the RAMBUS days, but that was fixed. Asus boards are power hogs.
I'm using a Gigabyte for my main Windows PC and an Abit for my Mandrake Linux AMD machine.

I also no longer pirate software. I'm tired of searching for cracks, hacks and serials.

 

x86 has come a long, long way since the mid 90's.

 

I'd like to see a source on that.

 

Amd.

 

I can see AMD outselling Intel if it was just CPU sales through retail channels. No way in hell though if it was total number of CPU's shipped.

 

How so?

 

I just built mine, and posted the question about dual-core vs p4 on the forums too. The Dual core won in the Vote, but practically speaking, the p4 hyperthreaded was enough for my needs at the moment. And after I put it together I was really happy.

https://acurazine.com/forums/technology-16/building-new-computer-intel-processor-question-319994/



I ended up going with a standard P4 3.6Ghz (660 Prescott) hyper-threaded for a few reasons:

1 - dual cores are only as good as the software that use them

2 - for a little bit extra $$$ you can get a faster p4 than a dual core. ( $349 for a dual core 3.0Ghz OR P4 3.6Ghz $409 (current sale price) www.newegg.com)

3 - Dual core technology is still relatively new and things are gonna change on this end. Dual Core's just came out not too long ago and mac already had a Dual Processor Dual Core G5!!!

4 - Unless you go with the extreme edition, the standard dual cores are not hyper-threaded. Since the chip has two cores, hyper-threading wasn't built in to the standard Pentium D processors. But that may change in the newer models. Imaging Dual Core Hyper-Threaded, that would be hella fast if software manufacturers wrote their code to utilize the dual core features. But until Dual core is the standard they probably won't be.

So in the end I'd stick with a standard processor whether it's a intel or AMD, just get one that does hyper-threading, for now.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking. AMD does well in the starving college student market but Intel owns the OEM channel.

 

Oh I also stuck a CPU Cooler on my processor that helps a lot too....

You can add an additional 100mm fan to the back of the cooler which I also did. It keeps the processor really really cool and it's kept my computer running really smooth so far.

It's a cheaper investment to speed up your computer than buying ram, unless of course you need more memory cuz you run out. The cooler ran me about approx $65+ including the additional fan. YOu have to order the additional fan directly from coolermaster. it costs about $7

CoolerMaster Hyper6 CPU Cooler




Be warned though, this thing is really huge! it'll take up a lot of space in your computer. My case had enough room for it, but others may not.

Antec P180

 

sly, thanks for the info. What are the other specs on the PC you built?

 

Case: Antec P180

Processor: P4 660 3.6 Ghz

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper6 CPU Cooler + Additional 100mm fan (The cooler only comes with one fan, but the cooler supports two)

Motherboard: Intel D955XBK

Intel Back Panel USB/Firewire Bracket - The motherboard I bought came with 2 front panel USB and Firewire ports. My case only used one of each. So I bought this bracket for a cheap $12 from Intel and installed in the rear of my computer so I could add more ports and make use of them (if I ever need them)

Ram: 2 GB (I'm gonna add more because I'm still noticing I'm running out when I'm working on large graphic files)

Video Card: PNY GeForce 7800 GT PCI Express

DVD Drive/Burner: Sony DVD-RW Model: DW-Q30A BK

Hard Drive:Good Luck! If you have any more questions just let me know.

 

fdl, check out this place for prices. They're usually cheap.

www.infonec.com

CAD pricing.

 

thx

 

good choice on the board. Intel is certainly the best.

 

Intel is the way to go. We just started playing with the dual cores here at work

 

Yep. I love my Intel motherboards. Easily the most stable systems I've ever built.

 

Yes, very stable. I'm willing to give up some speed for reliability. I guess thats why I drive an Acura.

 

I just bought 200 PCs for my work with Intel Pentium D 830 3.0 GHz CPUs. we have had the computers installed for only 4 days, and 1 Processor already had a level 2 cache data thrash errors and needed to be replaced... I don't know if this is a possible defect with the Pentium D Dual Core CPU, but if another processor fails, I am returning this shipment...

 

You just dont know where to look. The only software that was giving me a hard time was XP pro. But not anymore.

Asus, Gigabyte, DFI, Abit are the only boards that i would go with. If your going to be using it for gaming, make sure it has 8x AGP and/or a pci express slot. I think there are some high end boards out there with a 1gig FSB.

There is no point in having a fast processor if the FSB of the board is low. SO if you want a screaming machine make sure you have a high FSB.

Just whatever you do stay way away from ECS boards. I fried 3 of them within 2 weeks. GARBAGE.

 

Well you never really said what you were going to use your new computer for. I used to sell pcs retail a few years ago but the basic principle is the same. Tell us what the main usage will be and we'll be in a better position to help

 

Don't forget www.pricewatch.com and www.newegg.com

 

Some gaming (not alot), a bit of photo and video editing, and the usuall office apps and web surfing.

 

The last 4 computers I"ve built have all used Intel mobo's

 

This is what I was able to build a year ago

AMD Athlon 64 3400 (recently upgraded to the 3700) Socket 754
Asus K8N-E Deluxe Mobo
1GB PC3200 Ram
320GB HDD (1 Hitachi 160GB PATA and 1 Seagate 160GB SATA)
16X DVD RW +/-
52X CD Rom Drive
Thermaltake Tsunami Silver 3400 Case with upgraded 500W Power Supply
MSI Nvidia Geforce 6600GT Graphics Card
MSI Tv Tuner (sux I'm about to upgrade it to ATI HDTV Model)
Logitech 5.1 Channel Surround
Logitech Wireless Keyboard and mouse
Wifi built into the house
Sony 17" Xbrite Flat Panel Screen (Silver one)

That's what I can remember for now. The theme is silver and black for the entire system and of course I've got to add a little jazz to that as well. I've got color fans and 2 black light cold cathode tubes in there (badd@zz).

Bottom line, the system kills/eats anything I toss at it. You should see how many windows I have open and I have 0 slow down. Games, dvd authoring/editing/burning, internet, some graphic desing, you name it it does it all at the same time with no hiccups. I've yet to see what my system can 't do and I push the hell out of it.

The good thing about AMD is you can overclock it if you're running good cooling. I've put mine to Athlon 64 4000 speed and its still stable as a whisle. Even at stock speed with stock cooling, it'll kill whatever you can toss at it. Go for it. By the way, AMD Athlon 64 4000 speed is the same as the legendary Athlon FX processors they have (FX53) and they still sell at 1000 a chip alone because of the performance. You won't be dissappointed. Are you going to get yours custom made or prebuilt like a Dell or something?

 

trust me, I know where to look. I've been doing this since 1994. Its not that I can't find them Its just that it wastes time.